Life on the Line
by TayliaNinja
Summary: AU. Just when Harry Potter thinks his life is finally settling down, he gets a new suprise. He's being haunted. But she's haunting the wrong person. And why is he suddenly seeing muggle ghosts? Ghost Whisperer inspired.
1. Preface

**Preface**

I closed my eyes as the smoke came thicker and thicker. Then I wrapped my arms around her body and covered her mouth with her torn up clothes. Her dirty blond hair covered her face as she lay in my arms. This is it, I told myself. I never thought I would die this way. I'd always imagined…well I'd never imagined my death really. But I knew that I'd never thought it would be murdered in this cruel way. I heard a faint scream and I covered my mouth also with my ragged out clothes. I breathed in them and out of them slowly. They smelled of sweat, dirt, and smoke. I hated that smell. But I knew that did not matter. Not now, anyway. My personal desires are nothing to think about right now. I knew I only had seconds left before the flames reached me. The air was becoming harder and harder to breath. I heard the terrified scream again, closer this time. I wondered if that was just in my head. I thought of how that would be me in just a few seconds. Then the flames got closer and I knew for sure it was all over.


	2. Haunted

**Haunted**

Harry Potter sighed as he lay in his bed in his apartment he had moved in to a couple of years ago. He could not sleep for anything. Every time he closed his eyes he went through it over and over again. He had nightmares daily over and over again. They all started the same. The green lights would come and then he'd see his parents die. Then his godfather and Dumbledore would be next. Then Fred and Tonks and Lupin. He shuddered and looked at his clock beside his bed.

The clock read 3:06 in the morning. He sighed as he blinked to himself several times. The red lights of the clock always hurt his eyes whenever he woke up in the mornings like this. He used to have a green clock but he chucked it after having panic attacks when he opened his eyes to see green in front of him again.

Harry decided he'd used the bathroom. That'd get my mind of things, he told himself as he got clumsily out of his bed. He slowly opened his door with careful eyes and walked out of his bedroom. The door closed with a soft click.

The hallway lights were always turned off at this time of night so he wondered to himself why it felt so eerie tonight. His eyes narrowed when he felt the cold chills coming toward him and he kept his eyes ahead as he moved toward the restroom.

Then he heard a whisper, "You…"

He spun around and in a second he had his wand out and pointing at whatever he could point at in the darkness. The hairs on the back on his neck were starting to be on edge. But he was a brave man. He was a man ready to face danger whenever it came up. And he was a twenty year old man ready to give his life anytime for the safety of his people.

"Who's there?" He called out in to the darkness.

Then he was reminded that he was a wizard. He muttered a few spells and the lights were back on inside his hallways and that was when he realized that he was not the only one standing in the hallway of his house.

He almost started in surprise and he raised his wand closer to his company. She was a woman. She looked that she was in her late teen years and all across her face showed fury. This did not scare him, but it did intrigue him slightly. She had long dirty black hair and for some reason she looked drenched in water. Her face and body had blood all over it and her eyes looked like she still had some black eyeliner on from before she had her accident. She wore torn up black clothes and her gaze never left his body as he did his check.

"…Killed me…"

He drew a breath to speak to the woman but she was gone before he could get a word out of his mouth.


	3. Appearance

**Appearance**

**10: 35 a.m.**

"Harry?" Xander almost yelled across the work table.

Harry looked up suddenly and stared at his co-worker. Xander was one of the newly chosen Aurors and he was very keen to rush into things to easily. But Harry was still thinking about the young woman he had encountered last night. For some reason, she looked familiar. He had no idea why. Harry sighed and pushed himself back to the task at hand.

"Yes?" Harry replied hoarsely.

Xander gave Harry a suspicious look and handed his boss over the reports. "We wrote these reports at the last meeting. I was told to give it to my boss." He looked uncertainly at Harry.

"Right," Harry nodded and took the papers from Xander's hands.

After a few minutes Harry became aware of the fact that Xander was still looking at him as if waiting for a command.

Harry sighed, "You can be dismissed."

Xander gave Harry one for interested look before fleeing from the room.

-x-

**3:00 a.m.**

That's what the red letters on his clock read.

Harry picked up his wand from the table next to his bed and held it in is arms. The clock gleamed brightly on his emerald eyes and he squinted as he continued to watch the clock. He was planning on looking for this woman again. Ever since he had seen her the morning before, he could not keep his thoughts from coming to her. It seemed for some reason, that he was drawn to her. It felt to him like he had to go find her again.

_Just to see what she wants,_ he told himself as the bright numbers changed to 3:03. _That's it_. But something about her made him stop and think. She's dangerous. He knew that. But he was a brave man. If she's dangerous to him, then she's probably dangerous to his people. And his job was to protect his people.

It did not seem as eerie this time as he walked into his hallway. The lights were out and he left them out. He needed everything to be the same as last night.

"_How…could you?"_

Harry stiffened and looked for the source of the horrible voice.

"Who are you?' Harry whispered out into the darkness.

Suddenly the air felt colder around him. It was like he was put into a freezer. The warm air suddenly left and he was shivering in just seconds. Then some lights flashed. But they weren't normal lights. They weren't lights that he had in his house. The lights flashed for a few seconds then left. They were two bright lights that flashed by him and he was left temporally blinded by them.

"Hello?"

Harry whispered in slight fright. He had no idea who or what this person was. He wondered if they were out to get him. Then he gave a small shrug. Everyone is out to get him.

Then he saw her.

She was standing in the same spot as yesterday with the same furious expression. He had a odd feeling he had seen her before this state. Then he shrugged it away.

"Who are you?" Harry demanded again.

"_In life…I…"_

Harry whispered, "Full name, please."

"_Was Alison…"_

Then she gave him an infuriated look and then she was gone. It looked to him as if they had disappeared in flames and smoke. Harry moved closer to investigate.

"Oh god,"

The floor had blood stains.

-x-

**4:18 p.m**

_Alison, _Harry thought as he walked through the Auror Department the following day. He had gone to bed a few minutes after she had gone, but he was still tired.

"Harry…" Auror Quinn said.

"Yes?" Harry replied.

Quinn gave a small shake of head and made a helpless gesture. "What's up?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Not much,"

His friend gave Harry a concerned look. "You sure? Have you been staying up? You look…worn out."

"I do?" Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, man."

Quinn gave Harry a small pat on the back and walked through the door to his office.

Harry stared at the door for a few minutes. Was he really looking that bad? He guessed so. But he'd have to try and cover it up so people would not notice this. He liked doing things on his own. That was who he was. But he might need some help on this mystery. Then he had an idea. But it would have to wait until after he got home. He didn't want anyone knowing about this.

-x-

**9:20 p.m.**

Harry sat down in his apartment living room with his laptop in his lap. He'd gotten his laptop just a few weeks before when they needed more research sources. The internet always helps. He'd used it a lot since then.

'_Alison,'_ He typed into the search bar.

It wasn't much but it told him something at least, well he hoped it would. But all the results he got was people named Alison on MySpace. Harry sighed. He knew he'd get nothing. He'd have to wait.

He didn't know his waiting would not take that long.

_Screech!_

Harry heard the sound of car wheels skidding along a road.

_Bang!_

Then there was a thunderous bang as if something had exploding in his own house.

Harry was up in less than a second with his wand drawn and ready. He moved to his cupboard where he held Muggle weapons like guns and knives. If it was a muggle, they probably would not be frightened by a young man shoving a stick in their face. So he got Muggle weapons added to his list of weaponry. He had been trained fully on the Muggle police ideas also. He held the gun confidently in his hands and moved into his kitchen.


	4. Presence

**Presence**

It was all darkness.

Harry moved slowly into his kitchen. There was no light anywhere. He strained his eyes, looking for something. He was looking for anything.

"Hello?"  
He spoke softly, his hand holding his weapon close to his body. His gun, for some odd reason, felt unnaturally cold. It was almost as if it had been turning to ice. He moved his emerald eyes upon his weapon for just one second to check if it really had.

It was a mistake.

Suddenly, he could not breathe. He coughed silently, moving close into the kitchen. He leaned against the cold silver of his fridge. Harry made sure he held his gun tightly in his right hand even as he struggled. He was not going to give up that easily.

"_You."_

He heard the whisper in the darkness once more. This time the voice was different. It sounded strained. It sounded like it too was having trouble breathing. Harry closed his eyes. It was too hard. He could not breathe at all. He was going to die.

His right hand slackened. Immediately, the cold weapon fell from his hands. It seemed like it took forever to fall. The seconds ticked by slowly. Then it finally hit the cold hard wood floor of the manor with a painfully loud sound.

*****

The sunlight snuck into the bedroom.

It was the master bedroom of the house. To the right of the door stood a elegant cabinet. The cabinet was a dark brown color, closed and holding onto its contents tightly. The carpet was a dark red color, soft to the touch and it stretched across nearly the whole room. There was a mirror not too far away from the cabinet, beaten and old, as it was passed down for centuries. The sunlight was coming from the balcony.

The glass door was open, the wind pouring in noisily. The faint sound of a birds chirping came from outside of the manor. It looked almost like a painting, the sunrays did. Outside the balcony was a large, landscaped area. It had various types of plants, waterworks, benches, and even a small pool. The water reflected the sunlight brightly, flashing and curving.

The young man moaned in his sleep. His dark hair was plastered onto his face. His breathing was labored, as if he was having a nightmare. Which was not surprising, seeing as he was having a nightmare.

_He was running quickly, desperately. _

_His wand pointed directly at the enemy, but he could not utter a word or a spell. His feet suddenly were stuck to the ground. He could not move. His breathing quickened, if that were even possible._

_His dream was changing._

_It was all darkness, once again. _

_Dark blue eyes stared at him coldly from a few feet away. They seemed to hold him. He could not move. All he could do was stare back into them. As he watched, a young woman appeared in front of him. Her dark brown hair was wet again. Her dark make-up was smeared across her beautiful face._

"_Kill him."_

"_What?" he whispered._

"_You must. Or I'll make you."_

Harry stirred awake from his sleep. He coughed loudly, gasping for breath. His messy black hair covered his eyes and he weakly moved his hand upward to push away the soaked hair. His legs were stuck with sweat to the elegant covers. It was too hot in there.

He looked at his hands. They were sweaty and pale. They weren't their usual golden tan. He sighed, his pounding head seeming to be causing physical pain.

The dream did not make sense. It was from her, he knew. It was from Alison.

"Master Harry?"

Harry closed his eyes, hearing the voice of his loyal house elf. The door opened slowly, as if the house elf was wondering if he should not be opening it. A small house elf walked into the room quietly.

"I have breakfast ready in the kitchen, Master. Whenever you would like it…"

The elf continued talking about breakfast, but Harry's mind was drifting. It almost seemed like a fog had covered over his brain, making it unclear and hard to focus. He closed his eyes, pretending to listen to the eager house elf while his mind was elsewhere.

*****

She was out there.

His might was on her the entire walk into his office. Her eyes kept running through his head. Her dark hair and everything about her. He wondered why he kept thinking about it. It was a haze set over him. He could feel her presence as he moved swiftly into his leather chair. His more tan colored hands moved onto his hard desk and he put his head in his hands.

None of it made sense.

It never seemed to in his life.

It never had.

Ever.

He heard a small hissing sound. It sounded like the air coming slowly, in and out of somebody's mouth. Harry moved his hands away from his face and slowly sat up straight, waiting for her. He was waiting for Alison.

"Alison?" he said softly.

There was no response.

All he heard was the horrid screeching sound once more. It sounded like tires running off a road. A loud band followed soon after and Harry rose from his seat, confused.

Suddenly it stopped.

The breathing sounds were gone. The banging and screeching was only a memory. His green eyes scanned the room, looking for something. He wanted anything to help find this mystery out. Anything. He'd settle for anything.

He sighed softly, his eyes moving along his office. He was one of the only Aurors to have an office to himself. Most of the Aurors worked in cubicles. Since he was more talented and needed a room to himself, they gave him one. He also enjoyed the privacy. He had never liked having people right next to him, able to see whatever he was doing.

Then he remembered his reports. They were due later in the day. Harry looked at the clock next to his desk. He still had a few hours. But he needed some time to fill them out. He ran his hands through his dark hair and sat down, ready for some hours of pure writing.

******

_I'm so sorry for the extremely short chapter. I promise the next will be longer. I did not have time to go through and edit today. So the writing may be crappy, but give me some slack. I've been so busy lately. It's crazy business. _

_Please review. _


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